Carter’s career spans various key roles within the U.S. government. Before joining ICE, he served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of Trade at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). As the Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Office of Public Affairs at CBP, Carter was the senior career official responsible for managing the office’s strategic direction and supervising divisions that handled media relations, visual communications, digital engagement, internal communications, and mission support. His role often saw him acting as the principal advisor to the Assistant Commissioner and stepping in as Acting Assistant Commissioner when necessary.
In addition to his time at CBP, Carter has held notable positions as the Director of Human Capital at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), Chief of Media Relations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and Director of Communications for the Under Secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). His extensive background also includes service in the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy.
I had been on the job as the Coast Guard’s Pacific Area public affairs officer for less than a month on the morning of September 11, 2001, and was riding in my van pool with three other Coast Guardsmen from Novato to our base in Alameda, Calif. KCBS radio in San Francisco reported a small twin-engine plane crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center just before 6 a.m. Pacific, and went live to WCBS in New York. The short, man-on-the street interviews were indicating it was a small plane, and all of us in the van were wondering why the pilot could not avoid the tower. KCBS started its news coverage at 6 a.m. and, within a few minutes, went back to WCBS to report that a second aircraft struck another tower and indicated both were commercial airplanes. We looked at each other in dismay.
We drove across the causeway from Oakland to Coast Guard Island and, with a base sticker on the van, were casually waived through the gate. One of us said, “Well, that’s probably the last time that happens.” And it certainly was.
At one point during several conversations with our chief of public affairs in D.C. that day, he said, “Jeff, I can see the smoke from the Pentagon. This is going to be a game changer for America.” My area commander, a vice admiral, during one of several staff meetings, said, “Anyone who thinks they will wake up tomorrow in the same nation, or in the same Coast Guard, is badly mistaken.”
The United States, and the world, absolutely changed that day, just as the vice admiral had predicted. We became more aware and other attacks were thwarted – such as the shoe bomber and the New Years Eve threats in Times Square – by both alert individuals and law enforcement personnel. We dealt with increased security to enter government building and board flights. And we fought the longest war in our nation’s history.
As for me, my trajectory was altered immensely. I did a stint leading journalists to observe detainee operations at Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Coast Guard moved into the newly created Department of Homeland Security while I was serving as the in-theater Coast Guard public affairs officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I did some other temporary assignments – most notably the response to Hurricane Katrina – before I retired from the Coast Guard in 2008 and continued in federal service as a civilian employee. I even came back as a civilian to work with the Coast Guard on the BP oil spill response.
In typical military fashion, I have bounced between jobs every three-to-four years as a civilian employee and, except for two stints in other federal departments, my time since retirement has been in agencies within DHS. I firmly believe in the DHS mission and am hopeful we, collectively, never forget the horror of that day. Threats come from many directions and the price of failure is too great.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. government.